In the 17th century, water for fighting fire usually came from a barrel located near a building’s entrance and was thrown by hand onto the fire. This was only effective in putting out the initial flames. In time, pumps were developed that threw water farther and higher, but their effectiveness was still limited by the water source. Water mains, if they existed at all, were made of bored-out logs. To access the water meant digging a pit in the street down to the main. Then a hole was bored into the main allowing water to fill the pit to supply the pumps and the lines of bucket brigades. Once the fire was out, the hole in the main was plugged and the pit filled and marked for future use. This is why fire hydrants are sometimes called “fire plugs”

This method had obvious drawbacks. Precious time was lost finding the main, digging and drilling a hole. Debris from the hole tended to foul the pumps. By the early nineteen century when cast iron began to replace wooden mains, it became common to lay out the cast-iron water system with fire plugs at designated locations. These were cast-iron risers extending from the main to the surface through which the plug, already installed in the main, could be extracted to fill a portable canvas cistern.

Eventually, the plug was replaced by a Valve to better control the water, but it was still at the bottom of a riser. Fire crews carried a long standpipe with hose connections they would attach to the valve to bring water to the surface. Once the fire was out, the standpipe was removed and the riser covered, leaving the “fire plug” flush with the ground surface, but little to mark the spot for future use.